The McStorian

I remember the good old days of Myst 1.  I must have been in middle school when that first came out – back when I had more than 30 minutes to devote to any one thing.  A few years went by and I played Riven.  Either I got dumber (which is extremely likely) or the game got exponentially harder.  For the first time in my life I had to use a “walk-through” and felt somewhat disgusted in myself.  Apparently 3 more have come out since then, so rather than playing them in sequence, I simply picked up Myst V.  I guess I’ve missed a lot of the story because there was a lot of catching up to do via the diary entries, but I suppose I’ve got what I need.  The pattern is the same from what I remember in the first ones.  Everything has a purpose – you have everything you need, nothing more and nothing less.  It’s like a good history essay.  It’s pointed with no unnecessary excess yet it remains quite nuanced.  If anything though, this version creeps me out a little more than the earlier ones.  I know it’s not really possible to die or whatever but I don’t really like the bats flying at me.  To me the purpose of the game is to solve the puzzles – everything else is just flashy flash, but like every Myst game, there comes a point to where you have to make a decision.  Getting trapped in books is no fun.  I definitely enjoy games that make one think – but despite the addition of other characters into the game, it’s a completely lone/isolated process.  I guess they “help” you, but I definitely enjoy interaction with others, which I guess is where they’ve gone with their newest version?